Hiroyuki Yanada - Last Bible III (1995)

 

Composer: Hiroyuki Yanada

Console: SNES

Game Release Date: 1995-03-05

Soundtrack Release Date: 2011-10-05

Modified OST Release Date: 2021-11-01

Runtime: 2:43:05, 75 Tracks

Here will likely be one of my longest posts. I made up a small list of things to cover in the post and even if I keep each point brief I am expecting this to be long. When it comes to a game like this there is a lot to write. 

Last Bible III is a game by Atlus. It is the 3rd game in the Megami Tensei Gaiden series and one of the many games in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise. LB3 has no relation to the other games sans a one-off reference near the end. It is a SNES JRPG with the ability to recruit any monster to the team (excluding most bosses). All you have to do is convince them to join. It features a revolving cast of characters who will join and leave your party at points. If I had to round up there are 20 different allies that will join your party (including monsters that can only be achieved through certain scenarios). It's a gigantic game, my run taking give-or-take 50-60 hours. It's a huge epic adventure. 

Last Bible III is also one of the first games I ever emulated. Back in the mid-2000s I remember seeing this game on a list and was intriguied by the name. I ran it on ZSNES and thought it had a really cool title and appearance. I had no way of reading the text as it was a Japanese-only game but I played a little of it. I also took a screenshot of the title that I still have to this day. Flash forward to 2020 and I find out there is an english patch. I'm stuck at home anyways so I decide to give it a chance. A year and a few months later, early September of 2021 I finally beat it. 

Recruiting monsters was a big thing in the game. You are expected to recruit monsters, level them up and fuse them to get stronger ones. Monsters have a max level they can reach so once reached they will not get stronger. Now, with the revolving cast of protagonists that join and leave the party I didn't really need to recruit many. Plus, whenever I found a chest with a monster I would recruit it. The fake-out chest enemies were far stronger than the regular ones so having just 2 on the team could help carry for a bit of the story. There were also a few monsters that would outright join as allies that would dwarf others for a long time. They were Roy the werefolf and the Pithecan boss. Both were OP and I kept them for a long time. I only got rid of Roy after the dream village because story-wise it would make sense for him to go home. I got rid of Pithecan after he reached max level but he did stay until after the resurrection (as backup ofc). There was also 2 monsters that could join from Magoku for the final fight. Kingu, one of them I brought to the finale. The other monster MVP I had was Kinnara. For the longest time was my only healer so I always had him in back up. 

The game's plot is what I call complextro, meaning it starts off as a simple thing and explodes into this amazing, beautiful and detailed world with a huge branching plot. The game has two primary antagonists plus a later third. However a good deal of the plot is these random side-missions that help flesh out everything. 

(spoilers) The plot starts off so simple with you and your family in a small mountainside village. Then as it progresses it turns into a huge expansive plot that includes going to hell, going to outerspace to destroy space lasers, going in peoples dreams, ending the world, governmental conspiracies, heirs and prophets to kingdoms, soylent-green type twists, mass amnesia, utopian peace, world wars and dying and resurrecting. Holy shit. The incredibly ominous intro that features a character damning everyone as he approaches the door to hell only makes things more interesting. That characters story is also pretty fucked up. Guy didn't deserve that. (end spoilers)

The games combat was a bit slow and that did contribute a lot to it taking so long. I would get bored and stop. It wasn't until I went camping back in August that I made a ton of progress. It could have been faster I guess. The game could do for some QoL fixes like easier leveling up and better spells. I think it would have been cool if the EXP limits were removed however I know it would just have resulted with my bringing Roy to the finale. The level cap hurt the run a bit because I wanted to keep some allies with me but and keep leveling them up but I got over it eventaully. I would have loved the game even more if you had the option to perpetually switch out allies like FF4 and FF6. 

I really struggled with healing. For nearly the entire game I never had a media healer. At most I had Rudy who I would just exclusively for healing and Kinnara when I felt like it. I had tons of money was able to buy 99 of most healing items. It wasn't until the finale that I added Illia to the party who had mediama and could easily heal everyone. 

The best dungeons were the underworld and Sodom. The games graphics were beautiful and really captured the SNES JRPG aesthetic some people love. The game also had an air of mystery too it. There was a lot unexplained that I never figured out. There were a few houses across the world that had nobody in them just on their own, Harry's Village, the lapis farm, both 100 monster challenges, the doors before the end at Sodom and more. I could've been more throwough but ehn, maybe I will do this again. 

There was also some unexplained stuff in the plot like the whole Mach Falcon plotline and why Teeny entered hell with Ciel. I think the things may have been rushed at the end. Makes sense though, the game so jam packed with stuff. Ciel's parents were also pretty accepting that he died. They were more focused on the issues in the underworld. Side note to that but Rudy's story was the most tragic in the game. Like, Ciel had it bad but take into account everything Rudy went through. It's awful. The last scene that has Teeny in it is also one of the most depressing scenes in a video game I have ever seen. There were also cards you could collect about monsters. I got a ton of them even though I never had a use for them. There were even little things that made the game better like if you approach a shopkeeper without going through the desk they'll just talk to you. 

Ciel's magic in the game was completely useless. Maybe I never figured out how to upgrade or I was doing something wrong but throughout the game he stuck to melee. I didn't use magic much in general. At one point I was treating the game like an idle game so I would just set everyone to attack and do something else. 

Magic really only came into play in the final boss, Thor, the 3 sisters and Ben-Shoah because those bosses actually required strategy. Money was never a problem in the game. I did a ton of grinding in the middle of the run just killing enemies for money. When you have 300,000 dollars plus the best armor you can get you don't really need money for the rest of the game. 

The run was all over the place in what I played it on. I first was emulating it on my computer then stopped the run because of level caps. I then revived it a few times months later on my main PC, then I put it on my laptop, then onto my Retroid when I got it, then I sold the Retroid and put it on my 3DS. I went camping a few times with it on there and then finally put it back onto my main PC for the finale. Jeez. This all happened in the span of March 2020 to September 2021. Plus, when you get the airship the game gets a little confusing on where to go. Thankfully I had a walkthrough and used the official guide map which I translated and added to it. 

Some other random tidbits about the game. I loved the part in hell when you team up with the 4 guardians. Even after everything the game had thrown at me that was still out of left field. That stuff made that area one of my favourites. The music for the underworld forest is also one of the most popular songs for the game. My final party going into the final boss was Ciel (39), Roah (31), Teenty (41), Dawon (40), Rudy (36) and Ilia (39). This marks the second ever SMT game I have beaten with Persona 1 being the other. 

With the plot, characters, setting and gameplay I think this game could do with a 3D remake or some kind of modern port. It's just too good to be forgotten. I would love the shit out of a 3D remake of this in the same vein as the Tales of games or even just a 3D turn-based thing like Enchanted Arms or Persona 5. The chance for this is near zero but one can still hope. 

This is my longest post ever so I am going to wrap it up. The music is excellent and when I listen it evokes memories of the game. The music was composed by Hiroyuki Yanada who has also done the soundtracks for the other Last Bible games. In 2011 the soundtrack was officially released through label SuperSweep. Judging by the year I guess this was released in conjunction of with the Wii U Virtual Console re-release. The CD is like a lot of other officially released japanese OSTs. It's just the piece of music not looped. This means most songs are less than a minute. For the version linked below I have extended most of the tracks to 2-4 minutes long. This makes it much more realistic in the way you'd hear them as well as making it easier to listen to. 

Download: aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWdhLm56L2ZpbGUvSEV4aURTSVQjeFpxeDI3SVJFamZDYVpJdEt0Q2diNkxPOUwyVWwtc1hHRzR5dXp2VUpxWQ==

p@ss: teenyistheMVP